NBA YoungBoy’s defense has suffered a minor loss as he failed to win an appeal to have video evidence of him waving a gun excluded from his federal firearms case in Louisiana.
The rapper is facing gun charges stemming from a 2020 incident where he was arrested along with 16 others at a video shoot following reports to police that the group was brandishing guns. There, cops found 14 guns, marijuana, pills i.e., hydrocodone and Xanax, and digital scales.
YoungBoy was charged with possession of Schedule 1 drugs and released on bail. The Baton Rouge rapper was later arrested for possession of a firearm by a felon after a video surfaced showing him brandishing a gun. However, when he was arrested, he did not have a weapon in his possession.
This week, prosecutors won an appeal at the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit to allow a video of NBA YoungBoy holding a gun. The video was previously excluded by the trial judge in the case after the rapper’s attorney argued that the evidence was collected on a faulty warrant by cops. The video in question is from the rapper’s grandparent’s home surveillance video showing him with a gun before the September 2020 arrest.
The lawyer for NBA YoungBoy, whose real name is Kentrell Gaulden Jr., argued that the rapper’s right to privacy was violated and that sensitive family moments from the camera were collected and intended to be shared.
However, the trial judge’s order to suppress the video was overturned as the court narrowed the scope of the use by prosecutors.
The judge’s order read, “The government has appealed, arguing that he had neither a protected property interest in video footage filmed by a third party nor a reasonable expectation of privacy therein. We agree with the government and therefore REVERSE the district court’s contrary judgment.”
The rapper’s lawyer has not responded to the latest development.
In meantime, NBA YoungBoy responded to the news by dancing in a Tik Tok video signalling he is unbothered by his latest legal loss. The rapper appears in the Tik Tok clip outside his residence in Utah with some fans.
